CalSTRS Retired Educator - Winter 2007 eNewsletter

Harvey Cox wisely wrote, "Not to decide is to decide." But important decisions are seldom easy to make. Only after long months of deep study, thoughtful debate and significant input from members did the CalSTRS trustees decide at their September meeting on guiding principles to be used in drafting legislation to address the pension’s long term funding gap of $20 billion. A draft of legislative language was presented to the board in December, but the Legislature and Governor must sign any change to the system into law.

Guiding Principles

In formulating the following guiding principles, we seriously considered all the issues that affect our members – both active and retired: Provisions of the draft legislation include:

Authority for the board to set predictable contribution rates within limits for an incremental and phased approach to addressing the funding situations
Employer contributions for postretirement employment
Recognition of the need to increase accessibility of affordable health care for retired members

Current Benefits Won't Be Cut

We trustees know what all teachers know: no one is getting rich as a retired teacher. The average CalSTRS teacher retires at 61 with almost 30 years of service and receives about 60-65 percent of pay. Moreover, members do not earn Social Security for CalSTRS-covered employment. Thus the board’s principles begin with the agreement that it is important to protect, and not to cut, current benefits for our members.

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